Hi all,
I couldn't resist and bought a loco in the sale, and Atlas GP38-2 in CP dual flag scheme. My intention is to either/ leave it in this scheme and try to find out a bit more about these engines, and look at the specific inaccuracies of the model (if there are any) in regards to this road, or use it for another road and repaint/re-detail this unit.
Does anyone have some info on this paint scheme, when was it introduced and for how long did they use it?

What's the loco number? Detail differences may well depend on a number of things, for example CP inherited lots of GP38-2 from Soo Line* and from the D&H** which may well have very different detailing to a GP38-2 built to Canadian specs for CP directly.

Presume if it's the GP38-2 that it's the Trainman model?

(*Some of which in turn came from the Milwaukee Road)
(**Which in turn are ex Lehigh Valley)

Hi Martyn, I believe the loco number is 4404. Will see when it arrives. It didn't specify Trainman, but could very well have been. I was more interested in a good basic mechanism, and a shell that I can use and abuse, either by detailing it, or kitbash, depending on it's accuracy etc.

Up at the top that tells you it was previously SOO4404, click through that and somebody has added a note that it became CP4404 in 1995, presumably the repaint date. The CP4404 pics show it was still running in the two flags paint this year...

Grabbing a nice clear shot from that collection - mostly it matches the Trainman tooling very well, slatted rear grilles, big anticlimber, angled filter box etc.
The trainman one though doesn't have grabs, windscreen wipers or most of that kind of 'stand off' high detail, so you'll need to add that kind of thing.
Digging through the pics there will probably point out other stuff, none of which is that hard to add - such as the winterisation hatch (ask the other guys at WU whether they have one in the bag from a Proto SD60) - the all weather window on one side, ditch lights both ends, beacon and a big plow.http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=1339580

From there I would cull as many nice images as I can find of it, from as many different angles as possible, such as this one from Flickr - modern loco's and easy/cheap digital photography makes this an easy project to research! CP 4404 by Aaron Florin, on Flickr

That already answers another question, 'would it have been around in the early 90's in this scheme', the answer to that is no, so it will not run among my SP and CFNR stuff, besides I am not sure if CP rail engines even made it to California on a regular basis, perhaps a couple of units in lease use, but it is clearly a more modern unit anyway.
It might warrant a little re-think, or just stick with it and make it a modern CP unit for use at club layouts, I know of at least one other WU member who might appreciate me having an engine from 'across the border ehh' , but no, I'm not going over to the dark side any time soon.

Never say never, but I'd suggest very unlikely to have got to California! Non-dynamic, non-turbocharged, 'local' power.

For a Cal unit, probably not worth doing all the mods to make an SP one with Athearn doing the hard work already, but you might find a UP prototype that's close, maybe one of the ex MP units as it's a non-dynamic one? Alternatively the Santa Fe had some that match (ex TP&W units)

As it is it'd certainly fit with the Midwest regional vibe at any of the RS Tower meets though, pair it with a Soo or more modern CP liveried one for a nice interesting local power combo - looks like Trainman have run several suitable schemes. http://www.flickr.com/photos/eastoja/3215857395/

Hi Martyn,
They all look great, both like the SOO unit, as well as the Union Pacific unit (I have some Microscale UP decal sets somewhere), so that might be an option at some point too, MP sounds interesting too.
I'll think about it some more, I am in no rush.
Yes Athearn is working on some nice GP38-2's , and I've got two SP versions on pre-order anyway, so I won't need it to be SP.

No wonder they've released a model of it, it appears to be famous enough to show up all over the place.
No I didn't get mine as part of a train set as in the video Seeing footage like that however makes me feel less guilty of running short trains on my home layout. Less than 10 cars is pretty acceptable by the looks of it, even with a caboose in tow.

torikoos wrote:it appears to be famous enough to show up all over the place.

You're pretty safe with it in IL, WI or MN anyhow.

Easy research - just one of the benefits of modelling something current (plus it helps that it's quite pretty, not just another GE, and that it wanders round some heavily populated and heavily railfanned bits of territory)

Well I've just received my CP GP38-2 today. I currently have it sat on the module just to admire it , but next will come the research, on how true to the prototype this loco is:
One very quick glance already revealed the absence of ditch lights, so they will need adding at some stage.
Then I need to check if it's got all the generic details in the right places, doors, vents, exhausts, plows, and if it is sitting on correct trucks etc.